Tire problem

O

Oilslickwillie

Senior Member
I currently have P205/75R14 tires on a 55 Ford Sedan. Tire inflated width at widest point is about 8 1/4". I believe the rims are 6" or 7" wide, not sure. The car has a Mustang rearend in it. My problem is when taking the rear tires off, they would not come off between the wheel hub and the fender lip. Just stuck there. Only way they could have gotten them on was without any air in tires. When inflated, tires cannot be removed and will not clear fender lip. I need to get a more narrow width tire so it will be able to slip between the wheel hub and the fender lip, maybe a 195 (about 7.7" wide) or 185 (about 7.3" wide) which would be either maybe a 1/2" or 1" narrower which would probably slide out between hub and fender edge. Any thoughts on this. Never ran into this problem before.
 
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you must have a later mustang rearend my 56 has an early one 65 66 after that they got wider.i have 7 inch rims that come of with ease.
 
I can't really tell from your description, but I've seen tire removal problems caused by rear shocks that are too short, or don't have enough travel to let the rear end drop far enough. Might be worth disconnecting the shocks and see if that helps.
 
JeffB2, went back to the shop, disconnected lower shock nut, jacked up the side frame and jack stand it also. As I jacked about 3 or 4 times, car body came up enough that tire went on fine. I guess PO would jack up side of car to change tire, otherwise tire would not come off. I went ahead and removed the shock. Guess now I need to decide to get 2 new shocks a little longer or buy those extensions. Not sure how much longer the shocks would have to be though. Do you think 1 1/2" would do the job?
 
It's a PITA, but jack the car just enough to get the tire off. Then go measure the distance to making up the shock. If you dig into the spec's, many catalogs will give the compressed and extended length for an individual shock. Or at least you'll have a feel for how long an extension you need. Rarely (unless your flying) will the shock fully extend while driving. But you don't want it to bottom before you hit the bump stop. They're a bit pricey, but the street rod shock companys list all that info.
 
Try jacking the rear so that the entire rear end drops down level; in other words jack both sides up and use jack stands on both sides. This is a common problem and I find that to drop the rear end down like this lets the tires clear. The stock shocks should be okay if you use this procedure.
 
This is a common problem on 54, 55, and 56 passenger cars. When I change a rear tire, I remove the shock nuts and use a very small jack between the frame and spring. I carry an old rug to lay on if I ever have to do it out on the road.
 
I have a 60 Falcon with same problem. I jack the car up from the rear axle, support the car with jack stands on frame both sides (torque boxes on my car) then lower rear axle. I've never had to remove shocks to do this. If this doesn't work for you, perhaps air shocks would solve the extra step.
 
funrunr said:
I have a 60 Falcon with same problem. I jack the car up from the rear axle, support the car with jack stands on frame both sides (torque boxes on my car) then lower rear axle. I've never had to remove shocks to do this. If this doesn't work for you, perhaps air shocks would solve the extra step.
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I agree. It should work with the P205 tires that he has. I wonder if they are really 14" though since it came with 15" ones.
 
If my '59 is on jack stands, I can't get a back tire on or off without deflating it. Have yet to try it jacked up under the frame. Rear tires are 235/75-15 radials on 7" wheels.
 
Oilslickwillie said:
Jacking up the frame works for removing the 14" 205 tires. Thanks to all for the suggestions.
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Probably a 2" longer shock would be the best ticket,I use a hydraulic dolly jack on the frame just ahead of the rear tire ;) A lot of the shock websites show the types of ends and extended and collapsed lengths.
 
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